2.1 Juridico-religious Administration

Seal impression no. 1 on bulla inv. no. 7775 shows two lines of text in the centre and one line of text encircling the circumference, all in Middle Persian lapidary script (Figs. 4–5). While the text in the centre is partly effaced, it can be confidently reconstructed when compared to a similar seal impression on a bulla that resides in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Gignoux 1978: 81, 2.1a, pl. XXXIII, 2.1a). Although the provenance of the Paris bulla is unknown, it is improbable that it originated from Takht-e Solaymān, as this site has never been subject to unauthorised excavations. The inscription on sealing 1 of bulla 7775 reads as follows:

Line 1 (starting at ca. 2 o’clock) ⟨ʾtw[l]⟩

Line 2 (starting at ca. 4 o’clock) ⟨pʾtkn⟩

Line 1 /ādur/

Line 2 /bādagān/

Margin, starting at ca. 3 o’clock ⟨dlgwšʾny yʾtngwby W dʾtwbly⟩

/drīyōšān jādaggōw ud dādwar/

‘Advocate and judge of the poor of Ādurbādagān’

There is no uncertainty about the reading of the text in the margin. The characters are clear and legible. If it is not a scribal error, the inscription on this seal impression shows that two different forms of spelling for the title jādaggōw ‘advocate’ coexist on Sasanian seals. The first spelling shows a nūn ⟨n⟩ as the fourth letter, i.e. ⟨yʾtngwby⟩, as is the case in the sealing under discussion here. This spelling is also attested on the seals of this office in other the provinces. Frye (1973: 52, 62, D. 199, 63, D. 207) neglects the presence of the letter nūn ⟨n⟩ in the spelling ⟨yʾtngwby⟩ (jādaggōw) despite its clear appearance on sealing D. 207 within the Qasr-ī Abu Nasr collection of bullae. The second spelling is with a kaf ⟨k⟩ as the fourth letter, i.e. ⟨yʾtkgwby⟩. This spelling of the word appears on the seals of this office across different local jurisdictions (Gyselen 2019: 266). It is noteworthy that this word is spelled as ⟨yʾtkgwb’yh⟩ in the 7th-century Sasanian Law-Book Mādayān ī Hazār Dādestān (MHD 93.8; Macuch 1993: 593).

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Figures 4–5

Impression of the seal of the advocate and judge of the poor of Ādurbādagān

Citation: Iran and the Caucasus 29, 4-5 (2025) ; 10.1163/1573384X-02904002

photo by R. Maleki, drawing by Z. Valizadeh

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Scholars have translated the title drīyōšān jādaggōw ud dādwar in various ways, for example ‘Solicitor-judge of the poor’ (Herzfeld 1938: 417), ‘Spokesman of the poor and judge’ (Henning 1977: 357), ‘Attorney-judge of the poor’ (Perry 1978: 205), ‘Protector of the poor and judge’ (Daryaee 2022: 50), ‘Advocate and judge of the worthy poor’ (Shaki 1989: 167), ‘Intercessor and judge of the poor’ (Gignoux 2005), and ‘Judge and protector of the poor’ (Akbarzadeh /Daryaee 2012: 2, 6, 7, 9, 18, 21). Referring to the existence of the title drīyōšān jādaggōw on its own Gyselen (2019: 266) opts for the interpretation that the full expression drīyōšān jādaggōw ud dādwar denotes two distinct offices ‘Defender of the poor’ (drīyōšān jādaggōw) and ‘judge’ (dādwar). Frye (1973: 52) posits that ⟨yʾtkgwby⟩ should be understood as referring to an ‘attorney and judge combined’ and that dādwar means ‘legal expert’ rather than ‘judge’ because according to him the office of jādaggōw was one of general representation of the poor in various affairs. However, as suggested by Gignoux (1974: 174, 177, 183; 1976: 104–105; 1978: 81, 90, 116), it seems more accurate that each of the two terms designates a particular role. The holder of the office of drīyōšān jādaggōw ud dādwar probably had the dual function of aiding the poor through legal defense while also administering judgment in their cases. Based on the use of the title on the seal impressions as well as on the definitions in the MHD and in certain religious texts, such as the Pahlavi gloss of the Ahuna Vairya prayer and the Dēnkard, which do not include the title of ‘judge’ (dādwar), de Menasce (1963: 285) highlights the religious aspect of the formula and asserts that the ǰādag-gōw is ‘essentially a mowbed, specifically a mowbed from Pārs’. With reference to MHD 93.7–9, quoted below, Shaked (1975: 213, 215–216) suggests that ‘advocacy of the poor’ was not an ‘office’ or ‘function’, but rather an honorific title designating the mowbeds of Pārs in particular.

However, Gignoux (1976: 105) rightly concludes that the presence of seals from various regions outside of Pārs challenges the idea that the title drīyōšān jādaggōw ud dādwar applies solely to mowbeds from Pārs and instead views it as a specific function distinct from that of mowbed. Sigillographic evidence has indisputably demonstrated that the title of ‘advocate and judge of the poor’ was by no means exclusively reserved for Pārs. Seventy-one seal impressions from different regions (Dang 2022: 64) show that this office operated in at least 19 distinct provincial jurisdictions if not throughout the Sasanian realm. Several of these seal impressions have been studied by Gignoux (1974: 174, 177, 183; 1976: 104–106; 1978: 81, 90, 116) and Gyselen (1989: 31–33; 2019: 266–268).

As Garsoïan (1981: 23) points out, questions remain open concerning the meaning and application of the formula drīyōšān jādaggōw ud dādwar: to what extent does it incorporate religious elements? Does it generally serve to honour the charity of various individuals, or does it refer to a specific role? Referring to MHD 93.4–9, which mentions that the mowbed of the province of Pārs has his seal inscribed not with the title of mowbed but with the title of the office of drīyōšān jādaggōw, Perry (1978: 205) proposes that this position was not necessarily an “independent office but a function assumed ex officio by the mage”. This office seems to have functioned as a judiciary entity, likely with religious overtones. It was instituted by the mowbeds, the chief priests of the Zoroastrians, to advocate for the poor and the oppressed. Shaki (1978: 293, fn. 46; 1989: 168; 1993), who assumes that the office was established at the order of Kawād (r. 488–496, 498–531), and Daryaee (2001: 184; 2022: 50) suggest that the creation of this title might have been in response to the Mazdakite movement. Daryaee (2001: 183–184) also notes that advocacy for the poor was a general trend not only in Zoroastrianism but also in Christianity and later in Islam.

Although not referring to the complete title of drīyōšān jādaggōw ud dādwar that appears in Sasanian administrative seals, but to drīyōšān jādaggōw, the passage MHD 93.5–9 describes the creation of this office and its seal in the following manner:

MHD 93.5–9 (5) Eine (Entscheidung ist) diese: Das Siegel für die Ausübung der Amtsgewalt: dasjenige der mowbedān und der hamgāragān wurde zuerst (6) auf Befehl von Kawād i Pērōzān (hergestellt) und dasjenige der dādwarān zuerst auf Anordnung von Husraw i (7) Kawādān. Als man das Siegel der mowbedān von Pārs eingravierte, wurde die Bezeichung des mowbed nicht mit dem Titel “mowbed”, (8) sondern mit dem Titel “driyōšān ǰādag-gōw” (“Anwalt der Armen”) eingeprägt. Und aus diesem Grunde ist (dieser Titel) auf (9) Siegel der gleichen Art eingeprägt worden.⁴

This passage clearly indicates that the office of the drÄ«yōšān jādaggōw was instituted during the reign of Khosrow I (r. 531–579). This is confirmed by a later Arabic literary source, which states that Khosrow I claimed to have fostered an ideal, reciprocal relationship between the powerful and the poor, establishing the office of the drÄ«yōšān jādaggōw to oversee their relations.⁵

While there is no ambiguity in the meaning of jādaggōw (‘advocate, intercessor, defender, protector’) and dādwar (‘judge’) on the administrative seals, it is difficult to be certain whether the term drÄ«yōšān ‘poor’ in this title is meant in the literal or in a metaphorical sense because both meanings are present in Avestan, Pahlavi, and Islamic sources. Perry (1978: 205) citing de Menasce (1963: 285–286) believes that the term ‘poor’ does not refer to those who are simply impoverished by circumstance, but rather to an inherently patient and virtuous individual born into the working class. This person is content with and even takes pride in their situation, embodying both the ascetic and devout characteristics of a drÄ«yōš, while also reflecting the noble attributes of the “common man” of the Romantics. Preferable, however, is the view of Macuch (1993: 506), who draws attention to Pahlavi Rivāyat accompanying the Dādestān Ä« DēnÄ«g 62.12 (Williams 1990: I/222–223, II/108; Macuch quotes the passage from Dhabhar’s edition as 196.3 ff.), according to which among the responsibilities of the drÄ«yōšān jādaggōw was to speak up in the interest of widows, malnourished children, on behalf of sacred ritual fires, of domestic animals and of the powerless in general.⁶ Furthermore, she rightly points out that the drÄ«yōšān jādaggōw also had important legal responsibilities.

2.2 Civil Administration

Bulla inv. no. 7784 bears the administrative title šahrab of Ādurbādagān (Figs. 6–7). The beginning and the end of the inscription are separated by six annulets. The inscription is rendered in Middle Persian lapidary script.

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Figures 6–7

Impression of the seal of the šahrab of Ādurbādagān

Citation: Iran and the Caucasus 29, 4-5 (2025) ; 10.1163/1573384X-02904002

photo by R. Maleki, drawing by Z. Valizadeh

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In the margin circling anticlockwise from ca. 2 o’clock to 6 o’clock:

⟨ʾtwlpʾtkn štlpy⟩

/ādurbādagān šahrab/

‘governor of Ādurbādagān’

In the field, starting at ca. 3 o’clock, two letters are written in a single line and in a double-stroke script as follows:

⟨ʾt⟩

/āt/

The letters ⟨ʾt⟩ /āt/ of the field are probably an abbreviation for the toponym Ādurbādagān. This abbreviation also occurs on drachms from Yazdgird I (r. 399–420 A.D.) onwards and on Arab-Sasanian coinage as mint signature standing for Ādurbādagān (Malek 1995: 70).

A fragmentary bulla bearing the impression of the seal of the šahrab of Ādurbādagān was discovered by the German Archaeological Institute (Göbl 1976: 56, Tafeln 47, no. 696, 55. IIa.4). Additionally, there is an identical sealing (Figs. 8–9) within the new collection of bullae discovered by Moradi and his team (Moradi/Hintze 2022: 82–85, figs. 11–13). However, there are notable differences between those two sealings as compared with that on bulla 7784. The sealing on bulla 7784 is larger and almost ellipsoid, whereas the other two sealings are smaller and circular. The beginning and the end of the inscription on the sealing on bulla 7784 are separated by six annulets rather than three. In addition, the word šahrab on the other sealings excludes the final yod ⟨y⟩. Furthermore, they have the letter ⟨d⟩ in line 2 of the field, which is unclear what it stands for.

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Figures 8–9

Impression of the seal of the šahrab of Ādurbādagān

Citation: Iran and the Caucasus 29, 4-5 (2025) ; 10.1163/1573384X-02904002

photo by R. Maleki, drawing by Z. Valizadeh

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The paleography of the inscription on bulla 7784 also differs from that of the other sealings. For instance, the letter kaf ⟨k⟩ on bulla 7784 has the horizontal tail extending to the right, whereas in other sealings, it resembles a dālet ⟨d⟩. Moreover, the letter šin ⟨š⟩ on bulla 7784 appears as two connected wāws with a tail to the right and is separated from the succeeding letter, while in the other sealings it resembles an alef ⟨ʾ⟩ with a tail to the right and linked to the succeeding letter.

These differences clearly indicate that the sealing on bulla 7784 was produced with a different sealstone. This means that the office of the šahrab of Ādurbādagān had two distinct administrative seals. However, it remains uncertain whether both seals were used simultaneously or in two different timeframes. If the latter is the case, it is unknown, which seal predates the other.

In the Sasanian administrative system, the term šahrab typically denoted an office or an individual responsible for overseeing the civil administration of a šahr ‘city’, or a district, or of a province (Gyselen 1989: 28–29; idem 2002: 106–110, 117–119; idem 2019: 315–316; Nikitin 1994: 367; Payne 2015: 135; Khosrowzadeh et al. 2020: 90). However, based on the evidence from the Sasanian administrative seals, it appears that the title šahrab on our bullae is used to refer to the ‘province’ of Ādurbādagān, rather than to a šahr ‘city’ or šahrestān ‘provincial city’ (Moradi/Hintze 2022: 82–85).

2.3 Clerical Administration

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Figures 10–11

Impression of the seal of a magupat (chief priest)

Citation: Iran and the Caucasus 29, 4-5 (2025) ; 10.1163/1573384X-02904002

photo by R. Maleki, drawing by Z. Valizadeh

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A fragmentary bulla (inv. no. 7827) bears an impression of one administrative seal belonging to a mowbed (Figs. 10–11). Most of the inscription on the seal impression has disappeared. Our reading of the surviving letters on the circumference, circling anticlockwise and starting at 12 o’clock, is as follows:

⟨ ]Y mgwpty m[ ⟩

/ ] Ä« mowbed m[ /

‘of the chief priest’

The term mowbed or mgwpty refers both to a position/office and a title within the Zoroastrian religious hierarchy. Specifically, it denotes the ‘chief of the magi’, a Zoroastrian priest occupying the highest rank in the religious hierarchy. Literary sources indicate that the term for the supreme Zoroastrian priestly position is mowbedān mowbed ‘high priest of high priests’, but this title has not so far been attested in sigillography. Achieving the rank of mowbed was not contingent upon holding a specific provincial post; rather, it was an ecclesiastical rank attained within the Zoroastrian hierarchy, independent of royal appointments within the secular administration.

The Mādayān ī Hazār Dādestān mentions that mowbeds were sometimes appointed by the king. In the transliteration and translation of Macuch (1981: 36, 143) the passage runs as follows:

MHDA 14.11–12 ʾpʾyyt’ MN HNʾ krt’ ḥwrn’ mgwptʾn’ gwmʾrt’ ʾP̱-šʾn pṯ’ prmʾny MLKʾn MLKʾ gwmʾrt’

Sie (stÅ«r und dÅ«tak-sardār) sind von der vereinigten Versammlung (der) magupatān zu ernennen und man ernennt sie auf Befehl des Königs der Könige.⁷

The primary role of mowbeds was not only to ensure the maintenance of Mazdean orthodoxy and to perform the provincial religious roles but often also to fulfil judicial roles. This is evident from one of the titles assumed by the 3rd-century high priest Kerdīr: hāmšahr mowbed ud dādwar, or the “chief priest and judge of the whole empire” (KSM/KNRm § 10; MacKenzie 1989: 42, 54, 58).

The MHD provides several examples of legal decisions rendered by mowbeds. These decisions include cases about the transfer of a monetary inheritance (MHD 100.1–5; Macuch 1993: 621), the trusteeship of a fire temple (MHD A36.1–12; Macuch 1981: 219–220), an accessory murder charge (MHD 97.1–7; Macuch 1993: 586), the authentication of a personal seal on a legal document (MHD 99.3–8; Macuch 1993: 620, 628–629), the endowment and maintenance of the Rām-Šāpūr fire (MHD 95.15–17, 96. 1–3; Macuch 1993: 608–609), the provision of a copy of a legal document concerning fire ownership for the judge (MHD 93.4; Macuch 1993: 596), and the submission of a copy of a written document related to the testimony of two women (MHD 98.1–5; Macuch 1993: 587).

Like other provincial administrations, the provincial mowbeds likely had an office responsible for appointing local mowbeds and overseeing their activities. The title of mowbed is found on both official and administrative seals from the Sasanian era, though it is significantly more prevalent on administrative seals in the surviving archives.

According to Syriac sources, the territorial mowbed, in Syriac mowpeá¹­a ⟨mwhpṭʾ⟩, ranks third in the hierarchy of the Mazdean church, which is headed by the mowbedān mowbed and followed by the chief mowbed. In the Life of Yazd-Panāh (§ 5) (Jullien 2023: 119–121), it is stated: “The mowbedān mowbed, who was head of the magi, a chief mowpeá¹­a, and the mowpeá¹­a of Bēth Aramāyē arrived at the city of Pērōz-Šābuhr”.⁸

Neither the title of mowbedān mowbed nor that of ‘chief mobed’ is currently known in the extant corpus of Sasanian seals and seal impressions or any other epigraphic sources. This absence is not unusual, as many high-ranking officials are known only through secondary sources (Gyselen 2019: 287–288). However, MHDA 38.6–7 (Macuch 1981: 64–65, 221), refers to the copy of a last will and testament sealed with the seal of the mowbedān mowbed:

MHDA 38.6–7 (6) … LWTH ZK y hm (7) ʾdybʾtkʾr hmpcyn’ y pṯ’-c mwdr mgwptʾn mgwpt …

(6) … (Zusammen) mit jenem (Satz), der in derselben (7) Abschrift der Aufzeichnung, die mit dem Siegel (des) magupatān magupat (versehen war), …⁹

Returning to the remainder of the inscription on the bulla under discussion, the text in the field consists of two lines running as follows:

Line 1 (starting at ca. 2 o’clock) ]lʾ or ]lš

Line 2 (starting at ca. 4 o’clock) ]ly

Line 1 ]rā or ]rš

Line 2 ]ry

This seal has so far not been documented anywhere else. Its original provenance is therefore unknown. Although the name of the office and of the toponym for the region of jurisdiction is missing, this seal is different from the administrative seal of the mowbed of Ādur Gušnasp, which is attested in the Takht-e Solaymān bullae collection. Thus, it can be reasonably inferred that this seal belongs to a different jurisdiction whose mowbed either came to the fire temple of the Ādur Gušnasp to authenticate a document or sent a document or package to this fire temple.

Drawing analogy from other administrative seals, the text in the field must form part of a place name. However, we are uncertain whether it constitutes one toponym or two. If we accept that all the letters in the centre represent a single toponym, and if we read the extant letters in line 1 as ⟨lš⟩, there is a possibility that this toponym represents the province of ⟨[ʾp]lš[t]ly⟩ / abaršahr/. Similar office is attested on a mowbed seal of this province (Gyselen 2019: 286, ATb1a). If the letters in the centre represent two toponyms, identifying their names would be challenging. There are thus far no attested toponyms with a name ending in ‑rš or ‑rā that fit the available space. In the margin of an impression of a maguh seal held in the British Museum, two characters, presumably the name of a toponym, have survived. Bivar (1969: 120–121, no. 21109, ZR I, pl. 31) interprets these letters as ⟨gʾ⟩ /gā/, while Gyselen (1989: 63) suggests they read as ⟨lʾ⟩ /rā/. No literary or epigraphic source seems to mention a toponym corresponding to the province of either Gā or Rā. Nevertheless, this scenario does not apply to our sealing, as the original toponym consisted of more than two extant letters, but they have completely disappeared.

With regard to a possible toponym in line 2, there are several toponyms such as Abhar, Āmūl, Aspzār, Baxl, and Staxr that end with the letters (ly) ly, and thus would fit the available space given their short names. However, there is no substantiated evidence that any of these places originally appeared on the sealing in question.